Actualité
01.02.2007
Local experts discuss bio-safety issues in Antigua & Barbuda
Data entry and IT specialists of various government agencies were being trained last week on live genetically modified organisms (LMOs) which can potentially endanger Antigua & Barbuda’s eco-system if not handled properly. The training session, held last Thursday at the City View Hotel, was facilitated by Dr. Malachy Dottin, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Environment Fund (GEF) Cartagena Protocol Advisor and Stephen Vitoria, UNEP/GEF Regional Advisor on Information Technologies. The training was themed, «Building Capacity for Effective Participation in the Biosafety Clearing House.”
01.02.2007
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (New Zealand) releases imported corn seed report
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) Director-General Murray Sherwin today released the final report by David Oughton into the circumstances associated with the imports of genetically modified corn seeds in late 2006. The report Inquiry into the Circumstances Associated with the Imports of Certain Corn Seeds in Late 2006 was commissioned by the Director-General to examine how two consignments of Zea Mays seeds entered New Zealand during October and November 2006 with accompanying genetic modification (GM) testing certificates which indicated conflicting test results. All crops have now been destroyed.
01.02.2007
Maseca, Minsa accused of using GM corn in Mexico
Greenpeace environmental organization accused Mexican cornmeal companies Maseca and Minsa of introducing transgenic corn into the market; an action denied by the companies. Greenpeace Mexico consumer campaign coordinator Areli Carreon showed press official documents and lab tests confirming production of tortillas with transgenic, or genetically modified, corn.
01.02.2007
Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta seeks to reverse expropriation of Brazilian research farm
The Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta is trying to prevent the expropriation of a farm used for testing transgenic seeds in Brazil. The state government of Parana confiscated the 143-hectare property near the famous Iguaçu waterfalls last November after the governor decided the property would become an educational centre for environment-friendly agriculture.
31.01.2007
Cloning Barbaro - On racehorse cloning
Will there ever be another horse like Barbaro? Maybe so, if it were up to cloning researcher Katrin Hinrichs. Theoretically, you could take a tissue sample from the now-dead racehorse, culture some cells and freeze them for future Barbaro clones, she said. ”It just seems to make sense to do that when you have an animal that’s genetically valuable,” the veterinarian who heads Texas A&M’s Equine Embryo Laboratory told me today. Not that you’d ever put a Barbaro clone in a race. First of all, the rules of thoroughbred racing bar horses produced through cloning, or even through artificial insemination. But there’s a more fundamental reason why clones don’t make good racers, Hinrichs said.
31.01.2007
Christchurch (New Zealand) venue for GM Brassica hearing
Christchurch will be the venue for an ERMA New Zealand Authority hearing on a Crop and Food Research application to field test four genetically modified brassica species. ERMA New Zealand Chief Executive, Rob Forlong, said the hearing would begin on 11 April at the Millennium Hotel in Christchurch.
- Environmental Risk Management Authority, New Zealand (30.01.2007): Christchurch venue for GM Brassica hearing
- Environmental Risk Management Authority, New Zealand (30.01.2007): GM brassicas
- Scoop Independent News, New Zealand (23.01.2007): Council faces legal challenge for ignoring public submissions
- Radio New Zealand, New Zealand (11.12.2006): Upset vege growers meet scientists over planned GM brassica trial
- Scoop Independent News, New Zealand (27.11.2006): Have your say on field trials
31.01.2007
Someone (other than you) may own your genes
From the moment the first biotech patents were granted in 1980, the industry was hailed as a new frontier — uncharted territory where a new generation of scientist-inventors could reap the traditional rewards of innovation. But even as the gold rush began, critics as varied as scientists and human rights advocates declared that biotech’s new intellectual property frontier was already occupied. Claims of novelty and innovation as the basis for life patents, they said, disregarded the realities of not only nature, but also of research practices, democratic decision-making and global governance. [...] The title of an intriguing paper he wrote on the subject, «Acceptable Intellectual Property,” is a wordplay on the well-known concept of «acceptable risk” — that is, the level of risk a society considers acceptable, given existing social, economic and cultural conditions.
31.01.2007
Biotech seed industry now second only to pineapple on Hawaii
After reviewing the newest statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, local growers of designer gene crops are declaring that they have become the second biggest crop category in Hawaii. Hawaii’s genetically engineering seed industry is now valued at $70.4 million, according to the National Agricultural Service Hawaii Field Office, exceeded only by pineapple at $79.3 million. Sugar cane has slipped to third place with a value of $58.3 million.
31.01.2007
Modified rice seen in U.S. Clearfield seed type
The contamination of U.S. long-grain rice supplies by a genetically engineered variety appears to be more widespread than previously believed, the State Plant Board said Thursday. Traces of Bayer Crop-Science’s experimental variety LLRICE601 or two of its Liberty Link siblings have been detected in 10 samples of Clearfield 131 rice seed, the agency said. Since August, the U.S. rice industry has been aware that trace amounts of LLRICE601 were present in U.S. rice supplies. Until Thursday, however, such contamination was thought to be limited to only one variety, Cheniere.
31.01.2007
A growing dispute on GE crop coexistence in Maine (USA)
Spencer Aitel grows corn, grains and alfalfa on his 275-acre organic farm in China. He stakes his reputation, and his family’s livelihood, on the fact that his crops are free of pesticides and added ingredients. Galen Larrabee also grows corn, about 400 acres worth, on his farm in Knox. He uses a genetically engineered variety of the grain that he says has increased yields. The two farmers soon may find themselves on opposite sides of a growing agricultural divide in the state over the use of genetically modified foods. It’s a debate that appears headed to the Legislature.
31.01.2007
Cloning Barbaro - On racehorse cloning
Will there ever be another horse like Barbaro? Maybe so, if it were up to cloning researcher Katrin Hinrichs. Theoretically, you could take a tissue sample from the now-dead racehorse, culture some cells and freeze them for future Barbaro clones, she said. "It just seems to make sense to do that when you have an animal that"s genetically valuable," the veterinarian who heads Texas A&M"s Equine Embryo Laboratory told me today. Not that you"d ever put a Barbaro clone in a race. First of all, the rules of thoroughbred racing bar horses produced through cloning, or even through artificial insemination. But there"s a more fundamental reason why clones don"t make good racers, Hinrichs said.
30.01.2007
BIO and IICA enter into Memorandum of Understanding to promote agricultural biotechnology in the Americas
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate for the continued adoption of agricultural biotechnology in the Americas as part of IICA’s Hemispheric Biosafety and Biotechnology Program (HBBP). As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, both organizations will promote agricultural biotechnology initiatives that benefit the Americas around the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the International Plant Protection Convention, and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements.
30.01.2007
Brazil eyes ethanol export boom after Bush speech
Ethanol producers in Brazil, the world"s biggest and cheapest exporter of the alternative fuel, see a fantastic business opportunity in US President Bush"s aim to cut his country"s gasoline use by 20 percent over a decade. "We"ve never had such a great opportunity to substitute petroleum," said Luiz Carlos Correa Carvalho, director of Canaplan consultancy at Piracicaba in Brazil"s main sugar cane growing state of Sao Paulo.
30.01.2007
New approach needed for food aid
Rich countries should give more cash and less food if they really want to feed hungry people in the developing world, a University of Waterloo professor says. [...] "If you want to feed more of the 850 million people who go hungry every day reforming food aid might be a step in the right direction," Clapp said. And while many countries, such as Canada, the European Union and Australia have moved toward a cash-based system, the biggest food-aid donor in the world -- the United States -- has not changed.
30.01.2007
African leaders urged to support biotech
The co-ordinator of the West and Central Africa Programme for Bio-safety Systems (PBS) has urged African leaders to support the development of modern biotechnology, including genetically modified (GM) crops. Professor Walter Sandow Alhassan, a former director-general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), made the call here today, following the publication of "The 2006 Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM crops."
30.01.2007
40% of food "is genetically modified" in the United Arab Emirates
Forty per cent of food in the UAE is genetically modified yet without proper labelling laws here, consumers are unaware their purchases are not completely natural. In a food test between the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, the Emirates has the highest incidence of genetically engineered (GE) contaminated food according to Greenpeace who are currently in the Arabian Gulf with their flagship vessel, the Rainbow Warrior.
30.01.2007
Deja Moo: Are we ready for cloned cattle?
Here we go again. Yet another technology in its infancy is likely to be introduced into the food supply, while industry remains cautious and consumers divided. The issue over cloned meat is not one of health and safety – the scientific evidence examined by US and EU regulators indicates a cloned cow is no different from regular meat. Instead the issue the industry must now face is whether it wants to test consumers" acceptance of such a new technology, given the current concerns – and controversy -- over the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- Food Navigator, France (29.01.2007): Deja Moo: Are we ready for cloned cattle?
- The Boston Globe, USA (26.01.2007): Preparing cloning for market
- The Boston Globe, USA (27.01.2007): Bill calls for labels on food from clones
- Kansas State University, USA (17.01.2007): K-State ag economist says despite FDA ruling, 'appreciable quantities' of cloned meat, milk still years away from hitting supermarkets
29.01.2007
Monsanto contradicts ISAAA’s figures for GM plantings in SA?
We refer to the press releases by AgriSA and ISAAA, regarding the GM commercial plantings in South Africa for the period 2006. In such press releases, the claim is made that the GM commercial plantings in South Africa, have increased by 180%, from 500 000 ha to 1.4 million ha. Can you kindly explain to us how the GM maize plantings have jumped from just 609 000 ha in September 2006, (when Monsanto South Africa made your PR to promote your "Seeds of Hope Campaign" ) to what the ISAAA has been claiming just thee months later.
29.01.2007
Study explores the effect of Bt cotton in Warangal (India)
A new study in the February issue of Current Anthropology explores how the arrival of genetically modified crops affects farmers in developing countries. Glenn Davis Stone (Washington University) studied the Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh in India, a key cotton growing area notorious for suicides by cotton farmers. In 2003 to 2005, market share of «Bt cotton” seeds rose from 12 percent to 62 percent in Warangal. Bt cotton is genetically modified to produce its own insecticide and has been claimed by its manufacturer as the fastest-adopted agricultural technology in history. [...] «Warangal cotton farming offers a case study in ‘agricultural deskilling’,” writes Stone. The seed fads had virtually no environmental basis, and farmers generally lacked recognition of what was actually being planted, a striking contrast to highly strategic seed selection processes in areas where technological change is learned and gradual.
- University of Chicago Press - Journals Division, USA (18.01.2007): Study explores the effect of genetically modified crops on developing countries
- Express Network, India (29.01.2007): Minister asks ryots to consult officials
- Express Network, India (29.01.2007): Solatium given to ryots affected by ‘BT’ cotton
29.01.2007
Pakistan policymakers yet to reach consensus on biotech crops
As most countries in North and South America and considerable number of countries in Asia have made a significant progress on introducing biotech (Bt) crops for increasing productivity, the policymakers in Pakistan are still to reach a consensus on the adoption of the new technology in the country, a senior government official told Daily Times on Friday. [...] The recent development of Bt cotton, which has already been grown in different areas of the country, has become a bone of contention among various stakeholders as no farmer has sought any permission from the MINFAL to grow this variety of crop. Under the present rules and regulations, the sowing of Bt cotton was illegal.
